Chapter 2009: The Sixth Generation Directors

Regarding Marvel's shareholders, Zhao Fusheng had always thought that these old foxes were all idiots.

That's right, idiots.

Not that they weren't smart; in fact, the fact that they could still hold onto Marvel shares during its lowest point showed that they had confidence in the comic book industry.

But the problem was, these people were too arrogant.

They liked selling superheroes, selling off popular ones like Wolverine and Spider-Man to generate cash flow to keep the company afloat.

Then, after the success of Iron Man, they quickly showed their true colors, thinking that with Marvel's remaining superhero copyrights, they could rise again!

But in reality, that wasn't the case at all.

After Iron Man, Marvel actually tried several superhero movies, but in the end, they all failed.

Zhao Fusheng knew this because, in a later life, when Avengers: Endgame was raking in money worldwide, he happened to see a list of Marvel superhero films and was surprised to find there were many he hadn't watched.

And now, before the second Iron Man movie, Marvel was thinking of making a Hulk movie. He could only say these people were overthinking it.

Courting death!

That was Zhao Fusheng's current thought.

But since someone wanted to court death, he wouldn't stop them.

Although he might suffer some losses, Disney's acquisition plan would definitely be thwarted.

Zhao Fusheng was happy to see such an outcome; then he could increase his shareholding.

Putting down his phone, Zhao Fusheng thought for a moment and called Ye Jing to tell him about Marvel.

Ye Jing didn't have much to say about it; after all, he wasn't Zhao Fusheng or Dong Chenxi, and he wouldn't consider the matter from an investment perspective.

"You mean Marvel's The Incredible Hulk might fail?"

Ye Jing said to Zhao Fusheng.

"Most likely."

Zhao Fusheng smiled and said, "Do you think people prefer the rich and handsome Tony Stark or the Hulk?"

"Well..."

Ye Jing paused and made a decisive choice.

He wasn't stupid; he knew that not just himself, but anyone with a brain would prefer the rich and handsome Tony Stark.

That was simply human nature.

"Don't think about cooperating with Marvel."

Zhao Fusheng said indifferently, "Hollywood isn't easy to break into. What we need to do is expand our own film market. You have to understand, the West won't allow us to export our culture to them."

Ye Jing was silent.

He naturally understood what Zhao Fusheng meant and knew that Zhao Fusheng wasn't wrong.

The entire Western society was very wary of cultural exports from China.

This was something the entire Chinese cultural circle understood.

For example, the Chinese films that won major international awards, like those by the sixth and fifth generation directors, mostly depicted backward and ignorant life in China.

And literary works were even more so.

The works of the future Nobel laureate in literature needed no further comment.

Among the so-called famous Chinese writers recognized worldwide, how many wrote about anything other than the dark side of the country?

Zhao Fusheng didn't understand; he wasn't a literary man, nor did he know what those so-called masters saw. Perhaps in their eyes, everything foreign was beautiful.

Even a foreigner's fart smelled good.

Heh.

...

...

The next day, Zhao Fusheng received a call from Ye Jing.

It was about Lou Ye, who had taken a script to Future Film to seek investment.

"Why did he go to you?"

Zhao Fusheng was somewhat surprised.

After all, among the sixth generation directors, Lou Ye was one of the few he was familiar with and had a good impression of.

Back when they filmed Suzhou River, Zhao Fusheng had worked as a producer, and he had gotten to know Zhou Xun through that film.

To this day, they occasionally exchanged text messages.

"You know him, he's just like that."

Ye Jing said helplessly, "He doesn't ask for much, just five million in investment."

"Give it to him."

Zhao Fusheng laughed, "Anyway, his films are sure to win awards."

"Alright, I understand." Ye Jing nodded.

Speaking of Lou Ye's personality, it really was like that.

He once invited Zhang Songwen to collaborate, playing the husband of the actress in The Shadow Play.

Rumors said they had a good relationship, but during later promotions, Zhang Songwen revealed that even so, Lou Ye still didn't want to talk to him.

This wasn't a joke. During filming, one day after work, Zhang Songwen returned to the hotel and entered the elevator, only to run into Lou Ye. That's when he learned they were staying in the same hotel.

The hotel was old, and the elevator was an old-fashioned one, barely a square meter. Zhang Songwen regretted stepping in as soon as he did.

"For the entire twenty floors, neither of us spoke. Just before reaching the twentieth floor, he suddenly asked me: 'Have you seen Transformers?' I was flustered too and replied: 'Did you just buy a motorcycle?'"

When the elevator doors opened, they both walked out, sweating profusely.

That was Lou Ye's personality.

So Zhao Fusheng could understand why he didn't come to him directly but instead formally went to the company to seek investment.

He was just that kind of person.

"Who was that?"

Fan Baobao overheard his phone call and asked casually.

"Lou Ye."

Zhao Fusheng explained with a smile, "Tell me, isn't this guy exasperating?"

"A difficult personality."

Fan Baobao summarized, "Among the current sixth generation, he's probably the only one still holding on."

Zhao Fusheng was taken aback, then fell silent.

The sixth generation directors refer to those who entered the Beijing Film Academy's directing department in the mid-to-late 1980s and started directing films in the 1990s.

Represented by Lou Ye, Wang Xiaoshuai, Jia Zhangke, Zhang Yuan, Lu Xuechang, Zhang Yang, Guan Hu, and Wang Quan'an.

As for the one entangled in emotional disputes with Mei Ting and Li Xiaoran, he was just blowing his own trumpet; what kind of person was he?

Among this batch of sixth generation directors, the one Zhao Fusheng admired most was undoubtedly Lou Ye. He was an extremely stylized film director, almost a film auteur.

Extremely stylized directors are very easy to identify and hard to understand by outsiders. They could be said to be as distinct as possible and as vague as possible.

In Lou Ye's early work, The Dangerous Girl, starring Qu Ying, the visuals were once like a horror film. From the atmosphere to the color palette, one might mistake it for a horror movie.

The core of Lou Ye's films is artistry, as expressed through Yu Hong's words in Summer Palace: "If desire is not satisfied, action will be hindered."

In other words, it's something with a bit of color.

In his view, that was a way to showcase his film style.

For example, Suzhou River expresses a sense of disillusionment in love. You say, "If one day I disappear, will you look for me? Will you keep looking? Will you search until you die?" A series of "yes," but Meimei says, "You're lying."

In a word, it's like Bei Dao's line: "那时我们有梦，关于文学、爱情和穿越世界的旅行，如今深夜饮酒，都是梦破碎的声音" (Back then we had dreams, about literature, love, and travels across the world; now drinking late at night, it's the sound of dreams shattering), probably a nostalgia and longing for the liberalism of the 1980s.

Whatever has passed either becomes a burden, never to be reconciled, or becomes a seed for changing the future.

Of course, there's also Wang Xiaoshuai, who is quite creative.

His black-and-white film The Days used his real-life classmates from the Fine Arts Academy, Liu Xiaodong and Yu Hong, as actors, and the intimate scenes were quite bold for the time.

From an acting perspective, Hao Lei and Guo Xiaodong, Yu Hong and Liu Xiaodong all portrayed the sense of emptiness behind lust that the director wanted to express, or rather, lust as an escape from reality. But from the director's perspective, Wang Xiaoshuai showed traces of imitating Lou Ye.

There's no help for it; the circle is small, everyone knows what others are doing, and often when you want to do something, you unconsciously borrow others' methods.

Beijing Bicycle and Shanghai Dreams are probably his two most famous films, both featuring Gao Yuanyuan.

Also, years later, the director Hu Bo, whom Wang Xiaoshuai appreciated, gave us An Elephant Sitting Still, which is commendable.

The remaining one is Jia Zhangke, whom Zhao Fusheng had less contact with.

Old Jia, how to put it, is very interesting.

Even to this day, with Future Film thriving in the industry, Jia Zhangke hasn't taken advantage of his old friendship with Zhao Fusheng from their humble beginnings.

He has always been striving to make films he thinks are right.

Zhao Fusheng thought that was quite good.

In his memory, Old Jia once made a cameo in a film with a memorable line: "To put it bluntly, we're all people without skills. How can you survive in the underworld like this?"

Zhao Fusheng found it very reasonable.

Writers, filmmakers, artists—there are more of them. If your work gives people food for thought, that's its meaning. But unfortunately, we are all ordinary people; not everyone's work has value.

In other words, living is a more ordinary existence. Don't think about making Xiao Wu or Platform; forget your trilogy. Stir-fried rice with leftovers, less salt for health—that might be more practical and closer to reality. Independent filmmakers all want to film marginalized people and reality, but reality isn't worth filming. Just film life: who got divorced, who jumped into the Yangtze River again. Digging into the common traits behind those people might be more meaningful than the so-called trilogy.

Director Jia's maturity began with respecting market laws, that is, abandoning youthful idealism.

In short, in Zhao Fusheng's eyes, the sixth generation directors were a group adrift in the torrent of fate.

They experienced the country's transformation, then sought meaning but couldn't find it, either repeating themselves to settle an uneasy life or indulging in pleasure and carousing.

Zhao Fusheng wasn't an artistic person, but whenever he thought of this group, he couldn't control himself.

Artistic temperament, sometimes, is really frustrating.

Because if you are artistic, you might not be understood. But if you give up art, your heart will always feel uncomfortable.

But there's no help for it; that's life.